Last semester I designed a little “constitutional engineering” exercise for comparative politics. It’s probably better for a special topics course. Fortunately, I’m teaching just such a course this semester: Democracy & Democratization.
The simulation is rather simple. I designed a “Country Report” about a country (the Land of Oz). Students are then assigned into teams and asked to jointly write a 5-6 page policy brief recommending a constitutional design for a democratic Oz. After spending several weeks discussing issues of democratic theory, democratization, and constitutional design (presidentialism vs. parliamentarism, different kinds of electoral systems, issues of federalism, etc.) they should have enough from which to formulate a basic framework. The purpose is to test their ability to apply their readings to a “real” case (in this case, an imaginary one).
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UPDATE: If you’re interested in some books on constitutional engineering, here are some recommendations:
I want to use Electoral Engineering in my class on Electoral Systems. The good thing is, Pippa Norris has her final draft of the book on her website.
At the moment however, I don't have any students in my elecotral systems class. (thus no election simulation).
Have you ever seen Pippa give a presentation (at MPSA or elsewhere)? She's amazing. They are some of the sharpest PowerPoint presentations, w/ a small 4-5 page handout of simple text & beautiful tables/charts. Just great presentations.
PS. Pippa's website is: http://pippanorris.com
Yes, saw her a few years back give a presentation at the MPSA. Impressive. I even got to talk to her afterwards. She was in a hurry, but still had an ear for me and didn't treat me with the better than thou attitude I know of some other professors.